Mounting of gramophone unit plates and similar flange-edged panels

ABSTRACT

To detachably secure a mounting stud in a corner position underneath a unit-plate panel having integrally drawn edge flanges, the mounting stud is provided with a T-bar which is placed underneath integral, inwardly bent tabs projecting respectively from two flanges meeting at a corner of the plate with the T-bar extending from flange to flange at 45* to these, touching the flanges at both ends and being held against displacement along the flanges, when the stud is upright, by inter-engagement of portions of the T-bar ends and of the tabs. Preferably the T-bar ends are flat and bent at 45* from the T-bar center part to lie flat on the flanges and have projections which, when the stud is upright and in contact with the panel, project at the two sides of each tab to clamp the unit plate to a mounting board. A rubber buffer having slots to accommodate the T-bar is slid over the stud on one side, and a bush, fitting over the buttress-toothed mounting stud and having slots for the accommodation of a clip engaging the buttress teeth, is placed on the stud on the other side of the mounting board.

United States Patent Clark [151 3,656,725 [451 Apr. 18, 1972 [72] lnventor: Rene Clark, Woodborough, England [73] Assignee: The Plessey Company Limited, Ilford, En-

gland [22] Filed: May 7,1970

[21] Appl.No.: 35,363

Shurtleff ..248/22 Vazzano ..248/20 Primary ExaminerWilliam n. Schultz Attomey-Blum, Moscovitz, Friedman & Kaplan [57] ABSTRACT To detachably secure a mounting stud in a corner position undemeath a unit-plate panel having integrally drawn edge flanges, the mounting stud is provided with a T-bar which is placed underneath integral, inwardly bent tabs projecting respectively from two flanges meeting at a comer of the plate with the T-bar extending from flange to flange at 45 to these, touching the flanges at both ends and being held against displacement along the flanges, when the stud is upright, by interengagement of portions of the T-bar ends and of the tabs. Preferably the T-bar ends are flat and bent at 45 from the T- bar center part to lie flat on the flanges and have projections which, when the stud is upright and in contact with the panel, project at the two sides of each tab to clamp the unit plate to a mounting board. A rubber bufier having slots to accommodate the T-bar is slid over the stud on one side, and a bush, fitting over the buttress-toothed mounting stud and having slots for the accommodation of a clip engaging the buttress teeth, is placed on the stud on the other side of the mounting board.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures MOUNTING OF GRAMOPHONE UNIT PLATES AND SIMILAR FLANGE-EDGED PANELS This invention relates to the mounting of panels of the kind, hereinafter called the kind specified, which basically consist of a generally plane panel of sheet steel or other sheet material provided along its edges with integrally drawn downtumed flanges, and it is more particularly applicable to the mounting of so-called gramophone unit plates, which are used in discrecord playing gramophones to support a gramophone tumtable and its drive, and in which the panel normally has a flatbottomed circular well to accommodate at least part of the turntable. In a gramophone the unit plate is nonnally accommodated in an aperture of a gramophone housing and is required to be secured to a suitably apertured mounting board fonning part of this housing in such a manner that the unit plate is capable of some yielding up-and-down movement in the housing thus minimizing vibration feedback from a loudspeaker in the housing. In order to secure the unit board to the mounting plate it was hitherto usual to provide, near the corners of the unit plate, holes through which screws can extend, at least for transport of the gramophone, or alternatively cuplike elements were welded underneath the panel of the unit plate near the comers thereof to accommodate the heads of mounting studs, these heads being retained in the cups by bending the free edge of the cup inwardly over the head of the stud.

The present invention has for an object to provide an improved mounting system for a panel of the kind specified, by which the panel when used as a unit board can be anchored sufficiently to a mounting plate of a gramophone, housing to permit transport of the gramophone and which neither requires the provision of holes for the passage of mounting studs through the panel nor requires anything to be welded to the underside of the panel. According to the invention the panel is mounted with the help of mounting studs each having a shaft one end of which is attached to the centre of a crossbar extending substantially rectangularly to the shaft to jointly form an anchoring bracket and being held in position undemeath the panel adjacent to a comer, with the shaft extending at right angles to the panel, by engaging the cross-bar of each mounting stud between the panel and two inwardly projecting integral tab portions of the panel flanges, which are provided, at substantially equal distances from the corner, one at each of the flanges extending from a corner of the panel, cooperating abutment surfaces being provided at each tab and at each end of such cross-bar to prevent the ends of the cross-bar from movement along the adjacent panel flanges when the anchoring bracket is in position with its shaft extending at right-angles to the panel. If the panel is a unit plate it can then be mounted in a gramophone housing by passing each shaft down through a hole or slot in a mounting board and then secured or levelled by attaching, below the mounting board, a fastener member on the projecting portion of the stud. A resilient buffer of good damping qualities is preferably interposed between the upper surface of the mounting board and the lower surface of the panel of the unit plate. Such buffer members may be constituted by a bush of rubber or mechanically similar material, which fits slidingly over the shaft of the anchoringbracket and has slots to accommodate the cross-bar of the latter so that the bush can support itself against the surface of the unit plate without interference by the cross-bar.

The accompanying drawing illustrates, by way of example, one embodiment of the invention as applied to a gramophone record player.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an anchoring bracket and co-operating parts, the gramophone record player being represented by a unit plate and mounting-board,

FIG. 1a shows a spring clip for co-operation with parts shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 2 is an underneath plan view of the anchoring bracket.

Referring now first to FIG. 1, the unit plate 1 of a gramophone mechanism comprises a panel 2 of generally plane rectangular shape, with integral, downwardly projecting flanges around its edges. Only part of the unit plate, with flange portions 3 and 4 projecting downwardly from two edges forming a corner, is shown in the illustration. In order to adapt the unit plate for use with an anchoring bracket in accordance with the present invention, each of the comer-forming flange portions 3 and 4 is formed with an integral tab 5 and 6 respectively, which is integral with, but bent over inwardly from, the free edge of the associated flange portions 3 or 4 to form a shelf element parallel to the panel 2. An anchoring bracket for co-operation with the shelf tabs 5 and 6 is shown at 7 and has a shaft portion 8 which, when the bracket is applied to the illustrated corner of the unit plate, extends at right angles downwardly from the surface of the panel 2 through a hole or slot 27 of a mounting board 26 forming part of a gramophone housing. The shaft portion 8 is provided, at least in its end portion, with buttress teeth'as shown at 9 which, when engaged by a clip, prevent an element attached to the clip from moving downwardly, i.e., away from the panel 2 along the shaft 7 while pennitting the element to be pushed up, against resilient resistance, from one buttress tooth to the next. A suitable clip is shown at 25 in FIG. la. The shaft or stem 8 is of flat rectangular profile andextends at right angles from a cross-bar member 10. The latter is also of rectangular flat profile and is of the same thickness as the stem 8, so that the two can be made integrally from sheet material. An inner portion 11 of the cross-bar 10 is made co-planar with the stem 8 and serves to carry at each end a lug portion 12 which is inclined at 45 to the plane of the inner portion 11 of the cross-bar, so that the two lug portions 12 form a right angle to each other and thus can be applied to rest flat respectively on the two comer-forming flange portions 3 and 4 of the unit plate. The lower edges 13 of the lug portions 12 lie in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the shaft or stem 8 and are spaced from the upper edge (in the drawing) of the inner portion 11 of the cross-bar 10 by the same distance by which the upper surface of each shelf tab 5 is spaced from the lower surface of the panel 2 of the unit plate 1. The distance of the two lug portions 12 from the axis of the shaft 8 is such that when each lug 12 is in surface contact with the appropriate flange portion 3 and 4 respectively, its lower edge 13 rests on the appropriate shelf 5 or 6, and the lug extends very little beyond the shelf at both sides of the latter. Abutment shoulders for co-operation with the side edges of the shelves are formed as portions projecting from the edge 13 at 14 at the outer side and at 15 at the inner side of each lug portion 12. Conveniently those portions of the arm which carry the inner projections 15 are bent backwardly from the plane of the center portion 11 of the cross-bar, so that a plane through the axis of the shaft 8 and parallel to the cross-bar center portion 11 will pass approximately through the center of each edge 13. A pull along the axis of the stem 8 away from the panel 2 when the bracket is in position, will therefore produce no coupling tending to tilt the bracket about its points of support under the shelf tabs 5 and 6.

It will be found that an anchoring bracket constructed as described can be readily attached to a corner of the unit plate 1 by first sliding the edges 13 under the tabs 5 and 6 when the stem 8 is somewhat tilted towards the center of the unit plate and then, after abutment of the tab portions 12 on the adjacent flange portions, returning the stem 8 to a position perpendicular to the panel 2.

In order to permit the unit plate 1 to be secured yieldingly on the mounting board 26 forming part of a gramophone housing, a rubber grommet or bufier 16 is provided which has two diametrically opposite radial slots 17 dimensioned to accommodate the profile of the center portion 11 of the crossbar 10, while the core portion of the grommet 16 is provided with a through passage 18, shown in broken lines, which fits over the stem 8 of the bracket. When the grommet 16 has been placed on the bracket with its upper edge 19 resting on the underside of the panel 2 of the unit plate 1, and with the stem 8 of the anchoring bracket 7 projecting from the lower edge 20 of the grommet, the stem 8 is passed through a bore or slot 27 in the mounting board 26, and a stop collar 21, pronun-1n gitudinal passage 23 fitting over the stem 8, is placed on the stem at the other side of the mounting board. The boss 22 has cut-outs 24 at the sides facing the buttress feet 9 of the bracket stem 8, so that a spring clip 25 placed across the boss 22 inside the slots 24 will engage the buttress teeth 9 to retain the collar 21 against downward movement away from the panel 2. When on the other hand the spring clip 25 is turned by 90 about the axis of the boss 22, its wire legs will rest against the said side faces of the boss 22 without engaging the stem 8 of the anchoring bracket 7, thus permitting ready movement of the collar on to the shaft until the clip 25 is turned to the abovementioned operative position.

What we claim is:

1. Mounting means for mounting mechanism more particularly gramophone mechanism, on a mounting board having apertures for the passage of anchoring elements, comprising a I v panel of the kind specified a plurality of mounting studs each having a shaft one end of which is attached to the center of a cross-bar extending substantially rectangularly to the shaft to jointly form -an anchoring bracket, and fastener means for respective co-operation with such studs to prevent withdrawal thereof through such mounting board, the panel having, adjacent to each of a plurality of comers, two inwardly projecting integral tab portions of the panel flanges, which are provided, at substantially equal distances from the corner, one at each of the flanges extending from a corner of the panel to permit each anchoring bracket to be held in position undemeath the panel adjacent to a comer, with the shaft extending at right angles to the panel, by engaging the cross-bar'of each mounting stud and a pair of such tab portions, co-opera'ting abutment surfaces being provided at each tab and at each end of such cross-bar to prevent the ends of the cross-bar from movement along the adjacent panel flanges when the anchoring bracket is in position with its shaft extending at right-angles to the panel.

2. Mounting means as claimed in claim 1, including a resilient buffer of good damping qualities for interposition in the anchoring means connecting the panel and such mounting board.

3. Mounting means as claimed in claim 2, wherein each bufier member comprises a bush of material having rubberlike mechanical characteristics said bush having a passage which fits slidingly over the shaft of the anchoring bracket, the bush having slots to accommodate the cross-bar of the latter so that the bush can support itself against the surface of the panel without interference by the cross-bar.

4. Mounting means as claimed in claim 1, wherein the panel is a gramophone unit plate.

5. Mounting means as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shaft is formed with serrations facing the cross-bar the mounting means including a spring clip and means for supporting said clip for co-operation with such serrations to form part of such fastener means. 

1. Mounting means for mounting mechanism more particularly gramophone mechanism, on a mounting board having apertures for the passage of anchoring elements, comprising a panel of the kind specified a plurality of mounting studs each having a shaft one end of which is attached to the center of a cross-bar extending substantially rectangularly to the shaft to jointly form an anchoring bracket, and fastener means for respective co-operation with such studs to prevent withdrawal thereof through such mounting board, the panel having, adjacent to each of a plurality of corners, two inwardly projecting integral tab portions of the panel flanges, which are provided, at substantially equal distances from the corner, one at each of the flanges extending from a corner of the panel to permit each anchoring bracket to be held in position underneath the panel adjacent to a corner, with the shaft extending at right angles to the panel, by engaging the cross-bar of each mounting stud and a pair of such tab portions, co-operating abutment surfaces being provided at each tab and at each end of such cross-bar to prevent the ends of the cross-bar from movement along the adjacent panel flanges when the anchoring bracket is in position with its shaft extending at right-angles to the panel.
 2. Mounting means as claimed in claim 1, including a resilient buffer of good damping qualities for interposition in the anchoring means connecting the panel and such mounting board.
 3. Mounting means as claimed in claim 2, wherein each buffer member comprises a bush of material having rubber-like mechanical characteristics said bush having a passage which fits slidingly over the shaft of the anchoring bracket, the bush having slots to accommodate the cross-bar of the latter so that the bush can support itself against the surface of the panel without interference by the cross-bar.
 4. Mounting means as claimed in claim 1, wherein the panel is a gramophone unit plate.
 5. Mounting means as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shaft is formed with serrations facing the cross-bar the mounting means including a spring clip and means for supporting said clip for co-operation with such serrations to form part of such fastener means. 